Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell, has confirmed that the state pension has now successfully completed its connection to the pensions dashboards ecosystem, joining the "hundreds" of pension providers and schemes with more than 20 million pension records that are now available through the dashboards ecosystem.

Speaking at a Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) Town Hall event attended by Pensions Age, Bell stated: "The state pension is now connected, which is very exciting."

Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) programme director, Kim Webb, also highlighted broader industry progress on pensions dashboards, confirming that a total of 14 out of 20 volunteer participants (VPs) have now completed integration testing, which is considered the hardest part of the connection process.

In addition to this, eight VPs have now completed the connection process, and all but one VP has now entered the final stage of the connection journey, the technical connection.

Webb also emphasised the wider impact of these VP connections, revealing that the completed connection journeys have enabled hundreds of providers and schemes connected to the ecosystem.

"As the Minister mentioned earlier, the state pension has also completed technical connection, adding tens of millions more pension records," she said.

As perhaps expected, these are overwhelmingly larger providers and schemes that have earlier connection dates in DWP guidance.

Indeed, PDP senior responsible owner, Iain Patterson, suggested that many of the VPs who are earlier on in their connection journey are working with smaller schemes with later connection deadlines, confirming that the programme is not currently concerned about the progress of these VPs.

He also confirmed that the PDP is still on course to hit the connection deadline in October 2026, with all providers and schemes in scope being able to connect by that point.

"It’s been about seven months since we last provided an update on progress from the Pensions Dashboards Programme. It’s fair to say that there have been quite a few developments since then," he said.

"And, as we head through this year into the next, more and more people will start being able to access their pensions information on a dashboard through testing.

However, Webb emphasised that it is not just connection progress that has been made, arguing that "significant" progress has also been made on broader preparations.

In particular, Webb confirmed that the suite of standards that provide rules and controls that facilitate ongoing connection to the ecosystem have now all been approved by the Secretary of State and the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.

This, according to Webb, was the final stage in enabling PDP to publish these standards as a legally binding set of documents, which all providers and schemes in scope for dashboards must comply with.

"Again, I want to express my thanks to everyone from industry who has been involved in helping shape these vital documents," she said.

"We talk a lot about collaboration, but the positive spirit with which you have approached consultation has enabled us to develop and refine these standards."

However, Webb admitted that there is further work to be done on standards, including finalising a process and timeline for handling uplifts and retesting of standards, and timing for changes, where we know there are differing views, as well as further updates on error handling.

Given this, she confirmed that further information on these issues is expected in "due course".

Further updates are also expected from government before the full launch of the Money Helper Dashboard, as Bell also reiterated the government's commitment to providing six months’ notice before the launch of the dashboard, emphasising that "we don't want anyone to be surprised by anything in this process".

"Between now and then, we obviously need to put savers front and centre, and it's really important that we get this user testing right between now and launch," he stated.

Pensions Age will be sharing more exclusive updates from the PDP Town Hall event over the next day, including updates from the regulator and the latest plans for user testing.

---